Glove in which a palm purse is incorporated



y 1951 H. LE CLAIR 2,551,889

GLOVE IN WHICH A PALM PURSE IS INCORPORATED Filed March 23, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 8 1951 H. LE CLAIR GLOVE IN WHICH A PALM PURSE IS INCORPORATED 2 Sheets-Sheet 2- Filed March 23, 1949 1320822250 Haniil'efie ZieGZa Patented May 8, 1951 UNITED STATES ATENT GLOVE IN WHICH A PALM PURSE IS INCORPORATED 3 Claims.

This invention relates to gloves in which a palm purse is incorporated.

More particularly it relates to coin purses, in gloves, mittens and the like, for use by women and children who have need to carry a small sum of money, as, for cariare, or for an errand at a grocery; or wish to carry a house key. Coins for such purposes can be slipped into ones glove; or into the mitten a child is wearing; but experience has shown that there is risk of the coin becoming lost, with consequence more or less serious. Therefore devices have been proposed for constructing a purse in the palm of a glove, with closure flaps and fastenings of various types. All such hitherto known to me are unsatisfactory, because they add bulk and stiiiness to the palm of the glove, and because they entail more or less discomfort of the wearer.

The purse of my invention avoids the discomfort, while attaining the safety which is requisite, because it needs no closure flap, and eliminates also the button and metallic slide fastenings such as have characterized previous palm purses. The pocket of my purse is in the palm of the glove or mitten; but I provide an exterior mouth opening for the coin in the region of the thumb and forefinger of the glove, and an interior portal in that region of the palm which is nearer the wrist. This mouth extends acros the thumb, or forefinger, or the crotch between them; and may even be in or at the edge of the gusset between thumb and palm, this mouth, portal and pocket being in space between the surface material of the glove and its lining. If the glove has no interior lining of regular style, a patch of lining on the inner face of the palm will serve. Whether there is a complete lining, or merely the said patch of lining, a course of stitches will confine coins to the palm region, if that confinement be desired, as is preferred. The edges of the mouth opening may be buttonholed, and may be faced to withstand usage. A throat or transit-passage restricts a coin from passing directly between the mouth and the pocket by simple lateral movement. The invention provides a wrist-region portal through which the coin must pass.

While the glove or mitten is being worn the presence of the wearers thumb tends to keep the mouth of the purse closed at all times. The pressure of the purse causes no discomfort to the wearer, since the making of the pocket requires no more than that there be a lining, which, if desired may occupy only the palm.

To use the purse, the wearer poses her hand before her with thumb upward. With the other hand she edges the coin into the mouth, which ,overcomes the frictional resistance of the material oi" the glove as she slips the coin through this normally closed slit into the transit-passage which is long and wide enough to allow gravity and finger to guide the coin wrist-ward to the portal of the pocket. When a coin or key is in the pocket it cannot escape from its confinement there without conscious effort of the wearer. Nevertheless she can extract it easily by posing her hand so that by gravity the coin will fall through the portal, at that edge of the pocket which is toward the wrist; and then holding the hand so that the coin falls thence along the transit passage that lead to the mouth. This involves peculiar poses, in which the wearer first turns her hand upward, with wrist under the palm, to let gravity draw the coin toward the wrist and through the portal; then she rotate the hand so as to put the thumb underneath. The coin is then impelled by gravity to move along to the transit path. It avoids falling back into the pocket of the purse. When the coin has been thus put into the transit-passage leading to the mouth, the coin can be manipulated out through the mouth, overcoming the frictional resistance of the closed slit. The anatomy of the human hand and wrist are such that this sequence of hand movements and hand positions does not occur in any ordinary course of decorous behaviour. Therefore, a coin will not escape from the pocket without aid of the wearer; nor without her conscious knowledge.

When the glove is removed from the hand, a tucking of the thumb into the coin exit mouth will prevent accidental escape of the coin; or a conventional rolling of the gloves together will do so.

The present invention is an improvement upon what is disclosed in my application No. 654,580 of March 15, 1946, which has become issued U. S. Patent No. 2,472,751 of June 7, 1949, for a Glove incorporating a change purse. In that case the broad principle was disclosed, of providing a barrier, so that a coin enclosed in the palm purse pocket at the base of the fingers could not reach directly a mouth or exterior opening of the purse at the thumb edge of the palm, and so would be safely retained until the wearer wants it, the barrier being the intervention of a re-entrant angle of the stitching by which the pocket was made.

In the improvement hereindisclosed the mouth.

may be located at the thumb edge of the palm, or even in the forefinger of the glove, or between the thumb and base of the forefinger, and correspondingly in a mitten. In a preferred form the stitch line of the coin pocket has a course that is circumferential about the palm. Starting at the outer edge of the exterior mouth, this stitching proceeds toward the wrist, and curves past the wrist and along the edges of the palm that is opposite the thumb, and past the fingers. But as it reaches the forefinger region it changes its course abruptly into a radial direction to or through the region of the center of the palm, where it comes to an end. The space remaining between this end and the nearest part of its own earlier circumferential course constitutes an interior portal, through which every coin entering or leaving the pocket must pass. The said radial course of stitches is a barrier which bars contents of the pocket from direct escape into that region of the transit passage which is near the exterior mouth. This course of stitches is the inner side barrier wall of the rather long transit passage through which coins must pass in moving between the interior portal and the exterior mouth. The outer side barrier of the transit passage is the course of stitching first described above, starting from the outer edge of the mouth and proceeding toward the wrist. This may preferably follow the line on which the thumb piece of the glove is joined to the palm. It may be concave toward the palm, as illustrated in Figure 1. In this case it extends with concavity toward the palm, on the thumb side, to a point in the middle of the base of the palm, which is also in the region of the base of the thumb and also is near where the bend of the wrist begins. A concave thumb line such as this makes improvement in fit and in cost, in the manufacture of the above, as compared with the commonly used Bolton thumb, which is convex toward the palm. In either case, or if the thumb line be straight, the said radial line will be set far enough toward the middle region of the palm to make a proper width of transit passage. The lines of stitching may be prominently visible, by selection of contrasting color of thread, and style of stitching, making the design of the palm purse be a prominent feature of the glove or mitten; or by selection may be made practically invisible.

If the palm purse is constituted between the material of the glove and a patch lining occupying only the palm of the glove or mitten, this patch will be held to the palm material by the lines of stitching already described. If the B01- ton style of thumb is used the patch can also be sewed to the margin of its gusset.

As the interior portal is located at that edge of the palm which is remote from the thumb, and is nearer the wrist, it may for brevity be called a wrist portal, and may be said to be located at a wrist quadrant of the circumferential course of stitches.

To get a coin out of the pocket, that coin must first be moved lengthwise of the hand, from the palm toward the wrist, to and through this interior wrist portal. If the hand is held as is normal for human beings, the coin is then at a distance from, and usually is underneath, the exterior mouth which is at the thumb edge of the palm. Therefore the coin still will not fall out through the exterior mouth. But, by executing a movement that is rather awkward, and with an extreme extent of motion, one can reverse her hand, so as to put the thumb edge of the palm underneath the wrist portal. Then the coin can fall or be worked down and out through the long transit passage leading out to the mouth.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a face view of a glove having a palm purse embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a section through the thickness of the glove on line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section through thickness of the glove on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a face view of another embodiment; and

Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of Figure 4.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3 the glove illustrated typifies all styles and shapes of gloves and mittens. The invention provides a purse for holding coins such as those dotted at 4 and 16, or other small articles. The whole circuit of the dotted line l8 represents stitches that make the limits of the purse. These stitches E8 sew together the face material of the glove and the lining 2!] therefor. The lining may extend throughout the glove in the usual manner of a glove lining, or, as here represented, may be only a patch, large enough for use in making the pocket that contains the coin I l, with transit passage i2 for entrance and exit of coins. The mouth It of the transit passage, where the coin i6 is represented, consists merely of an exterior opening into the space between the surface and the lining materials of the glove. It is located at the region of the thumb or forefinger, or of the crotch between them, which may have a gusset. The line of stitching i8 encircles the palm. It starts at that end of the mouth opening E3 which is nearer the thumb, proceeds along the seam 22 of the thumb piece 2 3, as at 38, and then circles across the wrist 25, around the remote edge of the palm at 28, passes the bases of the fingers at 3B, and, near the base of the forefinger at 32, it turns rather abruptly into a final section 34 which proceeds radially toward the central part of the palm. The space between the sections of stitches, 3 and that which passes along the edge of the thumb piece, 33, constitutes the transit passage l2. The space between the end 35 of the section 34 and the sections 26, 28, at the edge of the palm which is remote from the thumb, constitutes the interior portal l0; and the pocket is the region seen occupied by the coin l4 between the final section of stitches 34 and that section 30 which passes the base of the fingers. The portal is always open between the pocket and the wrist region of the transit passage, so that this is called a Wrist portal to and from the pocket. All coins that move between positions [4 and I6 must pass through this portal 49.

Sections 32 and 34 of the stitch line It are sufficiently distant from the edge of the thumb piece to permit a coin to pass comfortably through the transit passage E2 when a hand wearing the glove is held with thumb upright. Gravity tends to draw such a coin toward the wrist quadrant 26. Upon ones then turning his hand with fingers downward, that coin tends by gravity to pass through the portal fl into the pocket as at I l. Travel of the coin can be aided by fingers of the other hand, if desired.

There will ordinarily be no escape of any coin from the region M without cooperation by the wearer of the glove or mitten, for the hand has, first, to be held upright from the wrist, so that gravity can draw the coin through the portal 40; and then, second, has to be posed by rotating the hand and bending the wrist or arm to put the thumb downward, so that gravity can draw the coin in from its position near the wrist to the mouth Ill.

The seam 22 joining the thumb piece 24 to the palm may have any desired course. It is of particular advantage, however in the making of any style of glove, even though there be no pocket, that the line of the seam 22 between the thumb piece and the palm be concave toward the palm. This is contrary to all practice which I have known; and I find that it conduces to economy of manufacture, and to superior form and fit of the glove. The mouth I0 may be located at any chosen position in the region of the thumb and forefinger; and other variations may be made from the particular construction of the palm purse which is illustrated.

If a glove be fully lined, the presence of a wearers hand closely filling and fitting the palm of the glove prevents escape of a coin around any edge of the palm. In that case the entrance of the hand can to an extent segregate the palm region without aid of certain sections of the stitch line is. Some benefit of the invention can be had even though all of that line be omitted, provided there is a barrier line corresponding to the section 34. This is illustrated in Figure 4, wherein a single line of barrier stitching 35 extends from near that end'of the mouth II which is nearer the fingers and runs toward the middle of the palm, ending at 31. The open space from thence to that edge of the palm which is remote from the thumb then constitutes the interior portal M. In that case a coin could pass by gravity from the fingers side of the barrier 35 which constitutes the pocket, to the side which is nearer the wrist and constitutes the transit passage side, only if the hand were held upright; and it could pass thence out to the mouth H, by gravity, only if there should be a turning of the hand and wrist or arm to thumb-downward position. Of course the beginning of the barrier line of stitches 35 near the mouth ll must be located so close as to bar all direct passing of a coin between the pocket in the palm and the exterior opening H.

It is intended to point out in the appended claims all of the patentable novelty herein disclosed. In the claims the term glove is used comprehensively to include mittens and all hand coverings having palms.

I claim:

1. A glove having a palm purse, comprising the material of the face of the palm of the glove and a lining therefor, the space between this material and this lining having an exterior opening for the passing of a coin in and out, located at the region of the thumb and forefinger, como 0 Number of which line begins at the region of that end of said exterior opening which is nearer the thumb, and extends around the edges of the palm to the region of the base of the forefinger, thence extending toward the wrist at a coin-passing distance from the thumb passing part of its course, and ending in a mid-region of the palm at a coin-passing distance from its own said edge course; thus constituting a coin-transit passage from said exterior opening toward the wrist, a portal for the coin to pass the said end of the barrier, and a pocket for the coin in that part of the palm which is within the mid-region of the palm, and is nearer the fingers than is that portal.

2. A glove having a palm purse, comprising the material of the face of the palm of the glove and a lining therefor, the space between this material and this lining having an exterior opening for the passing of a coin in and out, located at the region of the thumb and forefinger, combined with a barrier line of stitches that sew together said lining and face material, the course of which line begins at the region of that end of said opening which is nearer the fingers, and extends to- Ward the wrist to, and ends at, a middle region of the palm at a coin-passing distance from that edge of the palm which is toward the wrist, whereby is constituted a mouth for the purse, a transit passage toward the wrist, a coin-portal at that part of the palm which is near the wrist, and a pocket in that part of the palm which is in the direction of the fingers from the portal.

3. A glove having a palm purse, comprising the material of the face of the palm of the glove and a lining therefor, the space between this material and this lining having an exterior opening for the passing of a coin in and out, this opening being located at the region of the thumb and forefinger, combined with a barrier line of stitches which sew together said lining and material, whose course is from the region of the forefinger into and incompletely across the palm, being a barrier between that part of the palm which is near the fingers, constituting a pocket, and that part of the palm which is near the thumb and the wrist, constituting an entrance and exit transit passage; the space left open by said incompleteness of barrier being located at the edge of palm which is opposite the thumb edge and is nearer the wrist than is said exterior opening, this space being a portal through which coins may pass from one to the other side of the barrier.

I-IARRIETTE LE CLAIR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date 2,472,751 Le Clair June 7, 1949 

